A USB 3 external drive will have fast read and write speeds. A microsd card will be good for documents which are not constantly accessed. I would personally go for a leef supra USB 3.0 stick on amazon.com. Small enough to not get in the way, easy to share, and fast speeds.

A brand name class 10 microSD card would do anything you could want - including stream movies. It certainly would be more convenient than any external drive. In fact I doubt you could find a good class 6 card that you could push to its limits.

I use a 64gb class 10 micro sd in my surface for downloads, some videos, other files I need access to. I also have a usb 3 external 500gb hard drive that I only use for system images when I do backups. You can't restore a system image from a micro sd plugged into the surface, can't even save a system image to a micro sd. For a couple hundred bucks you can have both, and I also found a powered usb 3 hub on ebay for $15 that lets me have 4 devices attached to my surface when I'm working at home. Works with the docking station great!!!

I use a 64gb class 10 micro sd in my surface for downloads, some videos, other files I need access to. I also have a usb 3 external 500gb hard drive that I only use for system images when I do backups. You can't restore a system image from a micro sd plugged into the surface, can't even save a system image to a micro sd. For a couple hundred bucks you can have both, and I also found a powered usb 3 hub on ebay for $15 that lets me have 4 devices attached to my surface when I'm working at home. Works with the docking station great!!!

I have you beat. A friend gave me a 500GB disk filled to the brim with music a few years ago. It was the entire collection of music from a pop radio station that went out of business. I couldn't listen to it all in a lifetime.

I have you beat. A friend gave me a 500GB disk filled to the brim with music a few years ago. It was the entire collection of music from a pop radio station that went out of business. I couldn't listen to it all in a lifetime.

SD vs external HDD is a tough one to answer. I went with an external HD because I wanted to have my movie collection accessible on my television without needing to use a server system or to lug and connect my SP2 when I was in the mood to watch. External HD's have higher capacities and are much cheaper/GB than SD cards.

On the other side though, if what you want is to listen to music or transport docs from windows system to system then micro SD's are much more convenient.

As a comparison, in Canada a 128GB SD card off of Amazon can be bought for about $100. I could spend an extra $30 and get a 2 TB external drive.

When I say a ccouple hundred bucks, I mean full retail, that's what most people pay when they shop local. I got the usb 3.0 Toshiba 500gb external for $57 on sale at Best Buy, the 64gb micro sd on ebay for $35, the powered usb 3.0 hub for $15 and my docking station at Best Buy, full price $159 (?). I'm a immediate gratification type, I like to go get what I want, and take it home and use it. Don't like paying full price, but sometimes it's easier.....

As a comparison of price difference last week Amazon UK bought USB 3 Samsung 2TB Self powered HD £75. SanDisk 64gb hs10. £27. All music pictures from past years on HD. All current files stored to SD and OneDrive.